The New London Common Council voted to end injecting fluoride into the city’s water system.

At its May 11 meeting, the council voted 9-1 to amend an ordinance to remove the fluoride requirement.

Ald. Billie Olson voted no on the motion to amend the ordinance.

Members of the Public Works Board discussed the fluoride issue at a May 3 meeting.

Jason Bessette, director of New London Utilities, told the board the state Department of Natural Resources plans to lower its threshold for lead in drinking water.

He said he did not believe New London Utilities would pass these new regulations.

To reduce metals leaching into water, many municipalities nationwide inject polyphosphates into the water systems to reduce pipe corrosion and lower lead in the water.

New London Utilities needs to add a chemical room to each well station in order to inject the polyphosphates into the city’s water.

Bessette recommended converting the fluoride injection systems to inject the polyphosphates.

At the Public Works meeting, Olson expressed concerns about removing fluoride in the city’s water system and talked about the benefits fluoride has to teeth, especially in youth.

If the city does not begin injecting polyphosphates into the water soon, the DNR could force New London to make expensive replacements of lead water pipes.

If that occurs, utility consumers will seek drastic rate increases on their water bill.

By using the existing fluoride pumping systems to inject polyphosphates into the city’s water, the cost to the utility rate papers will be much less, Bessette said.

Board members said they did not discount the benefits of fluoride in the water system; however they thought coating pipes with polyphosphates to reduce lead from leaching in the water outweighs the benefits of fluoride in to the water…

*Original article online at https://waupacanow.com/2021/05/20/new-london-ending-fluoridation-of-water/

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